Photo by: Justin Edmonds
The Pioneers finally wrapped up road play over the weekend after having their last eight games away. DU won seven of the eight matches they played on the road, which improves their record to 17-10, 11-3 SBC.
“We have remained pretty consistent throughout our road stretch.B It was a difficult three weeks not only because of all of the traveling, but it was stressful for the team because of the amount of school that was missed,” said Head Coach Beth Kuwata.B “They managed all of it exceptionally well.”
Friday evening the Pioneers lost in five games 2-3 (25-30, 30-20, 24-30, 30-19, 8-15) to University of Arkansas- Little Rock but battled back on Saturday afternoon with a 3-1 (30-16, 27-30, 30-18, 30-24) victory over Arkansas State University.
The Pioneer’s loss on Friday against the UALR Trojans gives DU only a one-match lead in the Sun Belt Conference Western Division and they still have five games to play at home in Hamilton Gymnasium.
“We need to continue working hard to improve.B If we do that then we will be more than ready for the tournament.”
The University of Arkansas- Little Rock volleyball team has a record of 17-8, 9-4 SBC which is right behind the Pioneers.
Despite the Pioneers recording 53 total errors, they also managed to record a total of 76 kills. The Pioneers had 98 digs but only hit .162 in the match. The Trojans had 18.5 total team blocks compared to the Pioneer’s 10. For the first time during the Pioneer’s Sun Belt Conference play, they played five games in one match.
Freshman Kresson Vreeman recorded her career high for assists, with 72 of the total 73 assists during the match. Senior Kim Muller had more kills than any other player, on both teams, throughout the match with 18 total kills. Kacie Wikierak had 27 digs, more than any other played on the Pioneers.
Even though DU only had a total of three team blocks, they still managed to beat the Arkansas State Indians in four games. The Pioneers had a total hitting percentage of .469 compared to the Indians measly .171 percentage. In the first game of the match versus the Indians the Pioneers held them to a .000 hitting percentage and forced them to commit 14 errors in that game.
“I don’t know if we had one person who had an exceptional weekend, but overall our defense and blocking is what kept us in the matches,” said Kuwata of how they went 1-1 over the weekend.B
DU finally comes home to finish their season after four weeks of away games. Today at 7 p.m. the Pioneers play a non-conference game in Hamilton Gymnasium against Colorado State. Then Friday at 7 p.m. they play New Orleans, Sunday at 12 p.m. they take on Louisiana-Lafayette and Monday at 7 p.m. they play Louisiana-Monroe. They are playing each of these Louisiana teams for the second time this season and swept each team 3-0 the first time they competed against them.
